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Data on more than 2,000 Brazilian young adults found that those who were born via cesarean section had a 58% higher risk of being obese in adulthood. The results showed that 15% of the C-section group was obese, compared with 10% of those delivered vaginally. However, the lead investigator said the study did not show causation and more research is needed.

Related Summaries

Infants born by cesarean section were 40% more likely to be overweight or obese when they reached age 7, compared with those delivered vaginally. The findings, presented at the American Heart Association meeting and based on data involving more than 1,400 full-term births in Boston, also showed a 70% to 80% higher obesity risk among children born by c-section with obese or overweight mothers.

Researchers found that babies born by cesarean section had a 15% greater risk of obesity in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, compared with those delivered vaginally, and those born by unnecessary C-section had a 30% higher obesity risk. The findings in JAMA Pediatrics, based on Growing Up Today study data involving 22,068 youths, also showed a 64% increased likelihood of excessive weight gain among children born by C-section, compared with siblings who were born vaginally.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed 3.73% of children born via planned cesarean section were hospitalized for asthma and had a 10.3% risk of needing an asthma inhaler by age 5, compared with 3.41% and 9.6% of those delivered vaginally. Researchers analyzed data on more than 321,000 firstborns in Scotland between 1993 and 2007, and followed them until 2015 and found that although those born by planned C-section didn't have a significantly increased risk for asthma, obesity, cancer or death, they did have a higher risk of type 1 diabetes compared with those born by emergency C-section.

Children born via cesarean section were more likely to have a medical condition at age 2 or 3 but also had better overall health, compared with those delivered vaginally, according to an Australian study in Pediatrics. Researchers followed over 5,100 children born in 2003 and 2004 until age 7 and found those born via C-section were more likely to use prescribed drugs at age 6 or 7 but had better social skills than those born vaginally.

Data on more than 10,000 babies born in the U.K. between 1991 and 1992 showed that those born via cesarean section had an 83% higher risk of being overweight or obese by age 11 than babies born vaginally. The association between C-section delivery and increased obesity risk was particularly strong among children whose mothers were overweight, researchers reported in the International Journal of Obesity.